Green Tea Pancake, Gravy, and Roast Chicken

12.1.10

Before going into the post, I'd like to make a correction to my eggroll post. My Chinese friend told me that Chinese people call them Spring Rolls (春捲 chun juan).  There are two kinds of egg rolls: one is the long, yellow, rolled egg-based cookies that are made in Hong Kong.  The other (and this is the confusion) is kind of like a spring roll, and it's also a rolled, fried, stuffed thing.

Eggrolls have egg and sometimes green onion inside. That's why they are eggrolls. They're not stuffed very full so they can roll a lot more. The wrap pastry is round instead of square. They are pan-fried instead of being deep fried.

I guess my "eggrolls' are supposed to be called spring rolls. Ok Mr. Spring Rolls.

Back to this dish.

I had a hard time naming this concoction, seriously.

I don't really know what to call it. I just put what I liked in the dish and recreated it for Denise's noodle challenge.

Denise Fletcher at Quickies on the dinner table is hosting a noodle challenge.  Her introducing noodle is hard to top. Infusion Green tea soup, who would have thought of that!? I'm a fan of her blog so anything she does I'd love to partake in! It's fun to participate anyway. I have to gear up this dish, hit the paddle hard, and move this post over other awaiting dishes. Why, you ask? It's because the prize is her practical and handy cookbook!

Isn't it gorgeous!?

A Thai dish called Rad-Na would be the closest thing to this concoction. But, it's not quite the dish otherwise I would call it green tea rad na, don't you think? I love green tea. So, green tea soba is ALWAYS kept in my pantry. I like fried eggs but I don't like dry food. Therefore, having fried eggs and some gravy or sauce is a must for me. The gravy is a key to this dish as it ties everything together. I didn't oven roast chicken for this dish since I had leftovers from making a new sandwich for my new gig. However, roasted chicken compliments the dish really well.

For the green tea noodle pancake, I don't know how I got it. I just needed something "different" and Asian like. Deep fried noodle is too simple so I made an Asian mixture to bond the noodle and then I fried it. It turned out pretty good and I was surprised, myself. It was savory and a foodgasm. I was willing to have two plates if only I wasn't too full.

Gree Tea Noodle Pancake, Gravy, and Roast Chicken

Yield: 4

Ingredients:

4 fried eggs
oven roasted chicken breast (you can roast skin on, bone in, half chicken breast by seasoning with salt, black pepper, and drizzling olive oil over. Roast in the oven at  400 F for 45 mins).

For green tea pancake:

1 bundle dried green tea soba noodle
1 egg
3 tbs AP flour
1/4 tsp five spice powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
4 tbs soy milk (or any kind of milk you have on hand)
Canola oil for frying

For gravy:

3 heads bok choy, cut base off and stemmed
1/2 cups dried black fungus. (Soak the fungus in boiled water for 20-30 mins, then rinse)
1 big shallot, thingly sliced ( 2 for medium)
2 tbs cornstarch
4 tbs water
2 cups chicken stock or more if needed
1 tbs fermented yellow bean paste
1 tbs sugar
1/2 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs mirin (optional)
1 tsp white vinegar
white pepper
1/2 cup chopped cilantro and green onions
1 tbs olive oil

Directions:

• Cook noodle in a boiling water for 5-7 mins as directed in a package's intruction. After it's cooked, rinse with cold water and set aside.
• Mix, 1 egg, flour, five spice powder, sale & pepper, and milk in a bowl. Whisk just until everything is combined. Don't over whisk otherwise you won't get the sort of tempura texture.
• Heat up oil in a small sauce pan. I used a small sauce pan to avoid using too much oil. The oil should be hot around 350 F.
• Hand curl your cooked noodle into a flat circle. Use a fish turner/spatula or anything flat to lift the noodle and dump in a mixture. Use a slotted turner to lift coated noodle into a dish. Do at one at a time.
• Fry the noodle until golden brown. The noodle is already cooked so we don't need to spend too much time on frying; just for outside is crispy.
• After it's done, move it to a prepared tray that was lined with paper towel.
• Now your noodle is done. We will make a gravy. Heat up a medium sauce pan over medium high heat. Add oil, then shallots. Brown the shallots.
• Add chicken stock. Add all the seasonings, fungus, and bok choy. Adjust the taste.
• Mix cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Mix well with fork or whisk. Pour the cornstarch mixture into a pot to thicken up the sauce. DON'T sprape out the cornstartch mixture at the bottom of the bowl. We will need only liquid. That's why you need to whisk well.
• Taste to correct.

Cooked soba

Before going into a hot oil tub

I'm hot!

Chilling

Gravy

Assemble:

Place the noodle first, then arrange 4-5 bok choy stems from the gravy on the noodle. Raddle some gravy over. Place fried egg on top. Then place chicken. Raddle more gravy on top and to the side. Don't pour too much gravy because we are not making soup. Just to the amount that you will lick your plate off :)

Arrange bok choy on a pancake and pour some gravy on top

Place a fried egg on top. Don't forget to clean the side of the plate!

Am I delicious looking?

Yum.